Leading with Conscious Awareness
Reflections Inspired by The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership
Balancing my roles as a CTO in a large company, co-founder of
, and someone who keeps launching new ventures has taught me that leadership today is less about certainty and more about staying aware and open to growth.Recently, I have been reading The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership by Jim Dethmer, Diana Chapman, and Kaley Warner Klemp, and these are the reflections it sparked for me.
I am far from mastering these commitments, but they have become guideposts that help me navigate complexity with greater clarity and humility.
Here are a few that have been especially meaningful lately:
1. Radical Responsibility
Big companies have structure.
Startups have chaos.
The ART+TECH community has its beautiful unpredictability.
It is easy to blame external conditions.
This commitment invites a different stance:
Instead of asking, “Why is this happening to us?” try asking, “How am I creating or allowing this?”
It does not solve everything, but it opens a constructive way forward.
2. Curiosity Over Being Right
When pressure rises, curiosity is often the first thing to disappear, yet it is essential for innovation.
The ART+TECH community thrives on curiosity as we explore new ways for artists to bring their work to life.
Startups depend on curiosity to avoid false certainty.
Large teams benefit when curiosity softens rigid thinking.
Being right closes doors.
Being curious opens them.
3. Feeling Feelings (Even at Work)
As an engineer, I have always valued logic, and I still do. Logic is foundational to everything we build.
But the book reminded me that teams rarely struggle because of technical challenges. They struggle because of the emotions around those challenges. Bringing some of the ART+TECH community’s emotional openness into my corporate life has strengthened collaboration.
Emotions are not the opposite of logic.
They are part of the data.
4. Speaking Candidly and Eliminating Gossip
This is a daily practice, not an instant skill.
Speaking directly is uncomfortable.
Resisting gossip is uncomfortable.
But both create trust, clarity, and momentum.
As the authors emphasize, clarity is kindness.
I highly value this one.
5. Living in Integrity
Integrity, as described in the book, is not about perfection. It is about alignment.
For me, this means keeping commitments when possible and being honest early when I need to renegotiate. It means fewer automatic yeses and more intentional ones.
Less heroic effort.
More grounded clarity.
6. Sourcing Approval, Control, and Security Internally
This is one of the most humbling commitments.
In corporate environments, worth is often tied to performance.
In startups, to speed.
In the ART+TECH community, to creativity and experimentation.
But when approval or stability come only from external signals, fear takes the lead. Building internal steadiness, even slowly, changes how I show up for others.
Most likely, it is a lifelong practice.
7. Play and Rest
Simple to understand.
Hard to embody.
The ART+TECH community reminds me that play fuels creativity.
Startup life reminds me that rest prevents burnout.
Corporate work reminds me that neither happens unless it is intentionally protected.
Play is not frivolous.
Rest is not a reward.
Together, they create resilience.
Why I Am Sharing This
We are all navigating massive shifts: AI, distributed teams, new expectations, and new pressures. Technical leadership used to be mostly about architecture and execution. Now it requires emotional intelligence, communication, and staying present under uncertainty.
The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership has given me a more grounded way to lead, imperfectly but more consciously.
It has helped me:
reduce unnecessary pressure
avoid drama
communicate with greater clarity
support healthier team dynamics
stay aligned with what matters
create more space for creativity, both in tech and in the ART+TECH community
If you have read the book or practiced any of these commitments, I would love to hear what you learned.